Since new collections post online almost in real time these days, there’s little difference between seeing them front row or sitting in your bathrobe, clicking through looks at home. But there is something incredible about that moment in situ when the crowd hushes and the first notes of music play, introducing the collection before the opening model walks out. Seeing the clothes in context with the aural styling of the designer’s choosing is what makes it a show, so this season we decided to take a look at what goes into selecting music for the runway, a choice that can often make a great (fashion) statement.

And so last week, we invited designer, music aficionado, and frequent DJ Mandy Coon to Scratch DJ Academy to explore track ideas for her upcoming spring 2013 show. Coon typically DJs with CDs, but she was ready to take on the turntables. Her instructor, TJ “Dasmatic” Mizell, is an expert, fresh off performing with Run-DMC at **Jay-Z’**s “Made in America” festival. The two warmed up with some scratching basics, like “the scribble” (which sounds a bit like windshield wipers on a dry window) and “the drag” (imagine a robot booting down). Coon’s natural knack meant she was ready to try the “transform scratch,” which involves flipping a crossfader while simultaneously pulsing the record. “It’s a bit like rubbing your belly and patting your head!” Mizell said. Coon got the hang of it, and joked that if she ever adopted a DJ persona, she’d call herself MC MC (get it? Mandy Coon, Master of Ceremonies).

This season, music became a central part of Coon’s collection, influencing the designs themselves. Rather than just playing aloud during the runway presentation, the designer used sound waves and midi files (the stacked bars of music that move as the sound progresses on a digital track) as prints in her collection. But not just any sound prints—she asked her friend Pontus Winnberg of Miike Snow to write an original song for her show, the visual components of which make up the prints on the clothes. In this case, sound really is the central statement. Below, listen to a clip of Miike Snow’s song for tonight’s Mandy Coon show, and get the full front-row experience—wherever you happen to be listening.